#16 Miguele Issa, SVA

Miguele Issa,SVA

When I was 17 and graduating high school and first going into college I had this pair of Converse shoes. Originally they were navy blue but they were so old at the time that they had turned purple. I think they were my first pair of Converse shoes.

And when I first went to college I didn't know anyone, but eventually I made friends with a girl who I was spending a lot of time with. One day she looked at my shoes and said, "I have the same ones but mine are navy." And we realized that both of our navy Converse shoes had faded from navy to purple.

And then the girl became my best friend ... years later, not in this moment of truth.

But because we spent so much time together, one day we put in our shoes together and we wrote on both — on the side part of the soul. So that I would have half of her name on my soul and half of my name on her soul. And we wrote "T-Mig" because her name was T, and my name MiG. So I had T, and she had me, and every time we were together we would put them next to each other.

Then, years later, she made an illustration of the shoes and gave it to me as a birthday gift.

And so I always keep the shoes because I wanted to do something with them, but I never did. Until today! And I love those shoes because they remind me of my best friend.